Reverse Osmosis Plant Passes the One-Year Mark
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The city-operated reverse osmosis water plant (Chandler, AZ), purified more than 280 million
gallons of industrial wastewater to drinking-water quality and injected it back into the ground during
its first year of operation. The plant, which was more expensive to build than a conventional
wastewater treatment plant, exceeded the expectations of its builders, Intel Corp.
The plant houses the reverse osmosis membranes in long tubes. After rising computer chips, the water is pumped to the plant where pressure forces it through cylinders and layers of membranes. The purified water is piped 6 1/2 miles away and injected into groundwater wells called aquifers 400 feet deep. For the city, the aquifers are like water banks, where both withdrawals and deposits can be made. The plant pumps 700,000 to 1.5 million gallons a day back into the ground, enough to handle more than 1,000 average households. Edited by Beth Brindle |